Children&#39;s toy system with enhanced flexibility member

ABSTRACT

An enhanced children&#39;s toy system has an inner skeleton member with enhanced flexibility, an outer molded body assembled therewith and removably engageable with a toy vehicle member for play use. The inner skeleton member includes a series of displaceable flexible members joined by a series of substantially rigid or semi-rigid members allowing, at each interface, the enhanced flexibility member to bend and to be placed during play into contortions having degrees of motion not possible with a convention toy member with pivot joints. The enhanced flexibility member is releasably mountable to a toy vehicle via mounts during a play use.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/254,371 filed Oct. 11, 2021, entitled “Children's Toy System with Enhanced Flexibility Member,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIGURE SELECTED FOR PUBLICATION

FIG. 1

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The field of invention relates to children's toys and more specifically figurines used in combination with motion vehicles for play. The figurines are constructed with enhanced flexibility allowing ranges of motion not found in the related art.

Description of the Related Art

The related art involves toy figures and figurines for children's play. The related figurines involve hard body molded members (torsos) with rotational sockets (limbs) receiving hard molded limb members. These conventional figurines allow rotational motion on the sockets of juncture such as shoulders and hips or neck, but not bendable motion related thereto. This construction limits user play.

Alternative conventional figurines involve continuous flexing members molded completely from a flexible medium such as silicone or rubber in a mold filling-and-casting process known in the art. While there are no rigid joints in such molded members, there is no inner support and as a result, such member immediately return to their original molded shape upon the removal of force (snap back) or were formed from long-stretch material that remains permanently distorted and is unable to maintain form (e.g., overly flexible and floppy) and thereby prevent and limit child user play.

ASPECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an enhanced children's toy system with enhanced flexibility member provides for an inner skeleton member with enhanced flexibility, an outer molded body assembled therewith and removably engageable with a toy vehicle member for play use. The inner skeleton member includes a series of displaceable flexible members joined by a series of substantially rigid or semi-rigid members allowing the enhanced flexibility member to bend and be placed during play into contortions having degrees of motion not possible with a convention toy member with pivot joints. The enhanced flexibility member is releasably mountable to a toy vehicle via toy mounts during a play use.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a children's toy system, comprising: an enhanced flexibility member further comprising an inner skeleton member and an outer molded body member; said inner skeleton member further comprises a plurality of flexible displacement members interspaced at intersections with respective rigid members in a skeleton arrangement; said skeleton member provides a complete degree of freedom of rotation of each displacement member proximate each intersection with said respective rigid member; at least one toy vehicle having a support surface thereon for operably supporting said enhanced flexibility member during a combined play use; and at least one of said support surface and said inner skeleton member including means for securing a releasable use fit therebetween during said use to prevent unintentional disengagement.

According to another alternative and adaptive embodiment, there is provided a children's toy system, wherein, the flexible displacement members are either individual discontinuous members extending between each respective rigid members or the flexible displacement member may be a single continuous member-extending respective rigid members and being unable to flex along the portion that is retained within the respective rigid members.

According to another alternative adaptive embodiment, the discontinuous plurality of flexible displacement members (or continuous flexible displacement member) may be formed from a group of elements including but not limited to wire, coated wire, metal wire, flexible plastic-coated wire, and substantially rigid plastics such as filled silicones.

According to another alternative and adaptive embodiment, there is provided a children's toy system, wherein the respective rigid members are composed of an elastomer, polymer, an elastomeric solid, nylon compositions, HDPE (high density polyethylene), MDPE (medium density polyethylene), LDPE (low density polyethylene), Polypropylene (PP) of any kind, polycarbonate compositions, woven-textile and epoxy resin compositions such as carbon fiber or fiberglass, metal, wood, bone, other plastics, or any other substantially rigid element or a combination of elements thereof such as metals, ceramics, and glasses.

According to another alternative and adaptive embodiment, there is provided a children's toy system, wherein in a still further alternative embodiment the one toy system is a toy vehicle and is one of a skateboard, a bicycle, a work vehicle such as a motorcycle, police vehicle, truck, crane etc., a leisure vehicle of any kind, a boat, a board, a flying vehicle, or other transportation toy.

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate the same elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 provides an exploded view of an inner skeleton and an outer molded body.

FIG. 2 provides an exploded perspective view of the assembly with a toy mount for use.

FIG. 3 provides a perspective assembled view of the children's toy system with a vehicle surface for play use with illustrations noting the enhanced flexibility by noting complete degrees of freedom at each intuit between a flexible member and a rigid member allowing the assembled toy to play and bend in contortions, which are sustainable, that are not achievable with the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the invention. Wherever possible, same or similar reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts or steps. The drawings are in simplified form and are not to precise scale. The word ‘couple’ and similar terms do not necessarily denote direct and immediate connections, but also include connections through intermediate elements or devices. For purposes of convenience and clarity only, directional (up/down, etc.) or motional (forward/back, etc.) terms may be used with respect to the drawings. These and similar directional terms should not be construed to limit the scope in any manner. It will also be understood that other embodiments may be utilized without departing from the scope of the present invention, and that the detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and that elements may be differently positioned, or otherwise noted as in the appended claims without requirements of the written description being required thereto.

Various operations may be described as multiple discrete operations in turn, in a manner that may be helpful in understanding embodiments of the present invention; however, the order of description should not be construed to imply that these operations are order dependent.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3 wherein a children's toy or child's toy system with enhanced flexibility is provided and wherein an initial assembly 100 contains an inner skeleton 200 formed with a plurality of (or a single continuous) flexible members 201 spaced by one or more rigid members 202 and which is outer molded with an outer molded body 300 having a silicone molded shell 301 shaped integrated with molded clothing forms and features (as shown) or adaptively and alternatively is additionally provided with separate removable clothing 302 (not shown), shown here as a co-molded integrated non-removable hooded jersey and coat element. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 , individual post openings 203 are formed in the bottoms of the lower most rigid members 202 for securing to a play item 400 shown here as a vehicle having a support surface 401 in the shape of a skateboard with wheels. On a support surface 401, respective engagement supporting posts 402 project upwardly to for providing a releasable and securable snug fit upon receipt into receiving post openings 203.

It will be understood that although support surface 401 is provided with two supporting posts 402, 402, that a further plurality of supporting posts may be positioned at other locations on support surface 401 so as to facilitate multiple locations of assembly 100 during a play use by a child and thus enhanced entertainment.

As shown, the upper rigid member 202 in a ‘head’ position is provided with one or more openings 204 on the outer surface thereof (or alternatively in a pass-through opening configuration) which aids in securing and retaining the respective top ‘head’ portion of outer molded body 300 thereby preventing the outer molded body 300 ‘head’ portion from rotating about the inner rigid member 202 in the ‘head’ position which can lead to feature distortion and dissatisfaction during play.

It will be understood that the outer molded body 300 can be formed of any suitable material such as clay or other plastic material, but is preferably formed from a silicone composition which may be dyed or painted to suit a user or left transparent or translucent to display the components of the inner skeleton 200.

It will be understood, the flexible members 201 may be (i) discontinuous, in that they stop at each rigid member 202 and begin again on another side thereof, or (ii) may be formed as a continuous flexible displacement member that extends through respective outer molded rigid members 202 (that serve to restrain flexibility of any through-passing member 201 portion). It will be understood that flexible member 201 or members may be formed from a group of elements including but not limited to wire, coated wire, metal wire, flexible plastic-coated wire, and substantially rigid plastics such as filled silicones or any other suitable material or combination thereof that is operative to provide sufficient flexibility of the inner skeleton 200.

The rigid members 202, may be composed of an elastomer, polymer, an elastomeric solid, nylon compositions, HDPE, MDPE, LDPE, Polypropylene (PP) of any kind, polycarbonate compositions, woven-textile and epoxy resin compositions such as carbon fiber or fiberglass, metal, wood, bone, or any other substantially rigid element or a combination of elements thereof such as metals, ceramics, and glasses.

As will be further understood by consideration of FIG. 3 , it will be recognized by those of skill in the art that each interface of a flexible member 201 and a rigid member 202 provides a complete degree of motion (180 degrees) about the axis of the rigid member 202 along with relative bending there about, as is illustrated in respective range of motion indicators 500A, 500B, 500C, 500D, and 500E. These indicators are illustrative and are non-limiting in terms of degrees of motion, as it will be understood that the present construction enables vastly enhanced toy flexibility in range of motion at every interface of a flexible member 201 and a rigid member 202 (including on either side of each rigid member 202), for a near full 360-degrees of motion at each joint-interface. Due to the flexibility of inner skeleton 200 which can retain any bent-to-position during play, the corresponding outer molded body 300 can also retain any bent-to-position in relation to the vehicle 400 and thus present substantially enhanced enjoyment for the user such that the assembly 100 may be placed into contortions that are odd, unusual, and even impossible with a conventional toy that is constructed to only bend as a human body would bend. In other words, the present invention allows play configurations that are impossible with a current human body-restrained-geometries and are not provided for in present-art construction with o and mere rotational-pivot-body-joint configurations or hinge configurations that mimic human-hinge or ball-and-socket joints.

According to another alternative and adaptive embodiment, there is provided a children's toy system, wherein in a still further alternative embodiment the one toy system is a toy vehicle and is one of a skateboard, a bicycle, a work vehicle such as a motorcycle, police vehicle, truck, crane etc., a leisure vehicle of any kind, a boat, a board, a flying vehicle, or other transportation toy.

Also, the inventors intend that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims.

Where a specific numerical value is mentioned herein, it should be considered that the value may be increased or decreased by 20%, while still staying within the teachings of the present application, unless some different range is specifically mentioned. Where a specified logical sense is used, the opposite logical sense is also intended to be encompassed. Where a specific material is used (metal, wood, plastic etc.) the reviewer will understand this is includes any combination of such materials or a blending of such materials such as an alloy or other combination without departing g from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Having described at least one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent to those skills that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various modifications and variations can be made in the presently disclosed system without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An enhanced flexibility children's toy, comprising a figurine comprising: an inner skeleton comprising a plurality of rigid members interconnected by a plurality of flexible members; an outer molded body carried on the inner skeleton; molded clothing carried on the outer molded body; wherein the inner skeleton comprises a plurality of joint-interfaces between the rigid members and respective flexible members; wherein each joint-interface selectively retains bent-to-position orientations between a selected rigid member and an adjoining flexible member comprising at least 180-degrees of rotational motion of the adjoining flexible member about an elongated axis of the selected rigid member, along with relative bending of the adjoining flexible member transverse to the elongated axis of the selected rigid member.
 2. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, wherein each joint-interface selectively retains bent-to-position orientations between the selected rigid member and the adjoining flexible member comprising near 360-degrees of rotational motion of the adjoining flexible member about the elongated axis of the selected rigid member, along with relative bending of the adjoining flexible member transverse to the elongated axis of the selected rigid member.
 3. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, wherein the bent-to-position orientations comprise play configuration impossible for human body-restrained-geometries.
 4. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, wherein: the inner skeleton comprises a torso portion and four limb portions extending from the torso portion; each of the limb portions comprises three of the joint interfaces selectively retaining bent-to-position play configurations impossible for human body-restrained-geometries.
 5. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, further comprising a head portion rigid member, a face portion of the molded body, and a connection between the head portion and the face portion preventing relative movement of the head portion with respect to the face portion.
 6. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, further comprising a toy vehicle removably supporting the figurine.
 7. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, further comprising a toy vehicle removably supporting the figurine selected from the group consisting of a skateboard, a bicycle, a work vehicle, a leisure vehicle, a boat, a board, a flying vehicle, a transportation device.
 8. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, further comprising a toy skateboard, wherein: the rigid members further comprise two foot portions, each foot portion defining a post opening; the toy skateboard comprises two posts; the posts are removably receivable in respective post openings forming a releasable and securable snug fit between the post openings of the inner skeleton and the posts of the toy skateboard.
 9. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, wherein each flexible member is selected from the group consisting of wire, coated wire, metal wire, plastic coated wire, or combinations thereof.
 10. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 1, wherein each rigid member is selected from the group consisting of elastomer, polymer, elastomeric solid, HDPE, MDPE, LDPE, nylon, polypropylene (PP), metal, wood, bone, ceramics, glasses, or combinations thereof.
 11. An enhanced flexibility children's toy, comprising: a figurine comprising: an inner skeleton comprising a plurality of rigid members interconnected by a plurality of flexible members, an outer molded body carried on the inner skeleton, molded clothing carried on the outer molded body, wherein the inner skeleton comprises a plurality of joint-interfaces between the rigid members and respective flexible members, wherein each joint-interface selectively retains bent-to-position orientations between a selected rigid member and an adjoining flexible member comprising at least 180-degrees of rotational motion of the adjoining flexible member about an elongated axis of the selected rigid member, along with relative bending of the adjoining flexible member transverse to the elongated axis of the selected rigid member; and a toy vehicle releasably supporting the figurine.
 12. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 11, wherein each joint-interface selectively retains bent-to-position orientations between the selected rigid member and the adjoining flexible member comprising near 360-degrees of rotational motion of the adjoining flexible member about the elongated axis of the selected rigid member, along with relative bending of the adjoining flexible member transverse to the elongated axis of the selected rigid member.
 13. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 11, wherein the bent-to-position orientations comprise play configurations impossible for human body-restrained-geometries.
 14. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 11, wherein: the inner skeleton comprises a torso portion and four limb portions extending from the torso portion; each of the limb portions comprises three of the joint interfaces selectively retaining bent-to-position play configuration impossible for human body-restrained-geometries.
 15. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 11, further comprising a head portion rigid member, a face portion of the molded body, and a connection between the head portion and the face portion preventing relative movement of the head portion with respect to the face portion.
 16. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 11, wherein the toy vehicle is selected from the group consisting of a skateboard, a bicycle, a work vehicle, a leisure vehicle, a boat, a board, a flying vehicle, a transportation device.
 17. The enhanced flexibility children's toy of claim 11, further comprising a releasable and securable snug fit between the figuring and the toy vehicle; the toy vehicle being a toy skateboard, wherein: the rigid members further comprise two foot portions, each foot portion defining a post opening; the toy skateboard comprises two posts; the posts are removably receivable in respective post openings forming a releasable and securable snug fit between the post openings of the inner skeleton and the posts of the toy skateboard; and wherein each flexible member is selected from the group consisting of wire, coated wire, metal wire, plastic coated wire, or combinations thereof.
 18. A children's toy system, comprising: an enhanced flexibility member further comprising an inner skeleton member and an outer molded body member; said inner skeleton member further comprises a plurality of flexible displacement members interspaced at intersections with respective rigid members in a skeleton arrangement; said skeleton member provides a complete degree of freedom of rotation of each displacement member proximate each intersection with said respective rigid member; at least one toy vehicle having a support surface thereon for operably supporting said enhanced flexibility member during a combined play use; at least one of said support surface and said inner skeleton member including means for securing a releasable use fit therebetween during said use to prevent unintentional disengagement; and said flexible displacement members are ones of a group of wire, coated wire, metal wire, plastic coated wire.
 19. The children's toy system, according to claim 18, wherein: said respective rigid members are composed of an elastomer, polymer, an elastomeric solid, HDPE, MDPE, LDPE, nylon, polypropylene (PP), metal, wood, bone, ceramics, glasses, or combinations thereof.
 20. The children's toy system, according to claim 19, wherein: said at least one toy vehicle is one of a skateboard, a bicycle, a work vehicle, a leisure vehicle, a boat, a board, a flying vehicle, a transportation device. 